Downtown Going West With Satellite

Boca City Hall Trailer Puts Government In Suburbs

May 28, 1996|By SCOTT GOLD Staff Writer

BOCA RATON - — When Susan Whelchel first campaigned for City Council, she felt like she was running in two Boca Ratons: one along the coast, close to City Hall, the police station and downtown businesses, and one farther west, a sprawling suburbia.

"You could almost separate the two communities," Whelchel said. "I learned from the western area, they felt like our community was a little bit divided, that everything seemed to be downtown. The western residents felt like, `Why don't we have any of that?'''

Now, Whelchel is helping to piece together a program that would bring them a slice of government.

A group of city officials is putting the finishing touches on plans to establish a City Hall satellite - in a trailer, for now - on nearly two acres of city-owned land near the northwest corner of Yamato and Jog roads, near Regency Court shopping center.

The trailer will serve as a police substation. Two community service officers will be stationed there, said police spokeswoman Lori Croy, and other officers will be able to use the satellite office for investigations or writing reports.

But the trailer will also double as a community center. City officials aren't sure exactly what services will be available, but they could include:

-- Buying beach parking stickers.

-- Returning library books and checking the availability of other books through an electronic card catalog.

-- Paying utility bills.

-- Getting some development permits.

While city officials are considering building a permanent building, there are limits to what can be stuffed in a trailer, city officials said.

"Certainly it's never going to replace City Hall, or duplicate it," said Assistant City Manager Katie Mitchell.

But, Whelchel said, it is "a little something that gives them a piece of the action. We realized that not only did we need to have a government presence there, but we needed to have a police presence. So we just combined the two."

The city earmarked about $30,000 for the program last year, but most of the money - except about $6,500 used to pay architects and engineers - hasn't been used. Officials are currently assembling Boca Raton's 1996-97 budget, which will be approved by September 30 and will likely include more money for the satellite station.

The city isn't sure how much the program will ultimately cost, but Croy said the price is expected to be between $50,000 and $60,000.